Borderlands 2: Krieg’s Best Skill Trees & Character Builds

May 16, 2013

Krieg is the sixth vault hunter in Borderlands 2, joining Maya, Salvador, Axton, Zer0 and Gaige. His main skill is Buzz Axe Rampage, which sees Krieg put away his weapons and pull out a massive axe. If you hadn’t already guessed, he’s a melee-focused character.

We have full Krieg hands-on impressions already but here are some example skill trees if you want to make the most out of the hulking mee character.

Skill tree combination if you want to…
…play aggressively

This is easy, eh? The filling out the Mania tree buffs Krieg’s melee to insane levels and the more damage you receive, the higher the damage buff bonuses become. So this is a build where you actually want to receive damage and the only skill you don’t really need in the Mania tree is Redeem The Soul. With the increased level cap, spend the extra points across the Bloodlust and Hellborn trees but be wary of any traits that reduce damage, because the more damage you take, the stronger your buffs become.

…play safely

With Krieg’s unique abilities and Buzz Axe Rampage taking away his weapons, it can be tricky to keep him alive if you’re not too confident in his abilities. This buffs Krieg’s ability to hang back and do damage, although that’s not really playing to his strengths. Still, bulk up the number of grenades he can carry, invest in a strong grenade mod and the buffs to grenades will see Krieg’s damage output skyrocket. This combination of skills does see you setting yourself on fire but Numbed Nerves in the Hellborn tree means you’ll take minimal damage while benefiting from the Hellborn buffs.
…set yourself on fire

The Hellborn tree buffs you up when you’re on fire, and the tree is based on both buffs and managing the damage you receive while on fire. We haven’t completely maxed out the tree because it’s worth investing some skill points in Bloodlust, so you have In any case, Raving Retribution is your goal here. Once you have that skill unlocked, Krieg becomes far more formidable, shooting homing fireballs out whenever he takes damage.
…get the most out of Buzz Axe Rampage

To get the most out of Krieg’s Buzz Axe Rampage skill, you need to buff melee (as that’s what the skill is centred around) and reduce the cooldown (which stands at a staggering two minutes). The skill itself will reduce cooldown with any damage taken but you can decrease the cooldown further with Fuel The Rampage, which also sees Krieg take friendly fire damage. Taste Of Blood reduces the overall damage but is worth it for the Bloodlust stacks and you want Light The Fuse, because there’s always the danger that Buzz Axe will run out when you’re amongst enemies and having this skill is more important than Fight For Your Life. With the extra points from the increased level cap, build towards the Bloodsplosion skill in the Bloodlust tree.